Forza Motorsport 7 Changes VIP Membership Rewards After Backlash

Forza Motorsport 7 is a great game, but fans have been unhappy with a few of the changes made to core systems within the series. Specifically the VIP membership was said to be altered to force more microtransactions out of players, and some confusing descriptions of how the whole thing worked wasn’t helping. After a few days of extreme backlash it looks like fans are getting everything they asked for, with developer Turn 10 offering an apology, compensation, and reverting things to the way they were in Forza Motorsport 6.

VIP memberships used to offer players an extremely effective way of advancing in the game. Each member got double credits for every race, no matter what. For Forza Motorsport 7 this was changed to limited use mods. The biggest problem with this change was that it was not communicated effectively to players, many of which bought the Ultimate Edition of the game expecting the same rewards as before.

“Over the weekend we heard loud and clear from Ultimate Edition owners expressing frustration over the VIP membership offer in Forza Motorsport 7,” explained Turn 10 Studio Head Alan Hartman. “We immediately updated the VIP description in the Windows Store to alleviate any future confusion. As head of the studio, I apologize for any confusion or frustration our players may have experienced.”

The biggest changes are the ones going forward though, with Turn 10 altering how VIP memberships work in Forza Motorsport 7, making them the same as before. “This new system will work like it did in Forza Motorsport 6, offering a 2X base credit bonus after every race. We’ve already started work on this feature and we will release it as soon as possible. Look for more information on this update as we near the release date.”

It’s good to see Turn 10 react so quickly to this controversy, which I cited in my article wondering if we were about to witness the death of microtransactions. It seems like publishers are starting to become aware of the furor that they’ve stirred up within the gaming community. We’ll see how it all plays out over the coming months and years.